Cloudflare announces the first Zero Trust SIM for mobile devices

Cloudflare, Inc., a security, performance, and reliability company assisting in the development of a better Internet, has announced the development of the Cloudflare Zero Trust SIM, the first solution that secures every packet of data leaving mobile devices. Organizations will be able to quickly and securely connect employee devices to Cloudflare’s global network, directly integrate devices with Cloudflare’s Zero Trust platform, and protect their network and employees no matter where they work with the Zero Trust SIM that Cloudflare is developing. In addition, Cloudflare will launch Zero Trust for Mobile Operators, a new wireless carrier partner program that will enable any carrier to seamlessly offer comprehensive mobile security tools to their own subscribers by leveraging Cloudflare’s Zero Trust platform.

“When I speak to CISOs I hear, again and again, that effectively securing mobile devices at scale is one of their biggest headaches, it’s the flaw in everyone’s Zero Trust deployment,” said Matthew Prince, co- founder and CEO of Cloudflare. “Effectively securing mobile devices is hard, and we have been working on this problem since we launched our WARP mobile app in 2019, now we plan on going even further. With Cloudflare Zero Trust SIM we will offer the only complete solution to secure all of a device’s traffic, helping our customers plug this hole in their Zero Trust security posture.”

As organizations have become more distributed with remote working and employees bringing their own device (BYOD) to work, it is more difficult than ever to ensure that every device employees use is secure. Most organizations use a secure agent, or application, that runs on an employee’s device to help secure it. While applications and endpoint agents are important components of the security stack, they cannot secure all traffic across all devices and can be difficult to deploy at scale. Cloudflare is developing the Zero Trust SIM, the industry’s first zero trust solution to secure mobile employee devices at the SIM level, protecting every packet of data, to help fill this gap.

Cloudflare Zero Trust SIM will work in tandem with Cloudflare’s entire Zero Trust stack to enforce security policies on all traffic leaving the device. Furthermore, by using an eSIM (embedded SIM) first approach, SIMs can be automatically deployed to both iOS and Android devices and locked to a specific device, reducing the risk of SIM-swapping attacks and saving security teams time. Businesses will be able to do the following with the Cloudflare Zero Trust SIM:

• Secure every packet leaving employee devices: Software agents are imperfect and may not be able to handle every type of traffic. Because every data packet leaving a device goes over the SIM, Cloudflare Zero Trust SIM will be able to help secure all of an organization’s data. 
• Deploy at enterprise scale in minutes: Building on modern eSIM technology means that the Zero Trust SIM will be able to be automatically deployed and enabled using existing MDM (Mobile Device Management) solutions across all devices within an organization, allowing them to seamlessly roll out Cloudflare’s Zero Trust SIM without the pain of shipping physical SIM cards. 
• Integrate Seamlessly with Cloudflare WARP: The Zero Trust SIM will be able to be used standalone or deployed with WARP, Cloudflare’s mobile agent, to enable device posture controls and HTTPS inspection for organizations with more demanding needs.
• Secure the Internet of Things: As more and more objects connect to the Internet, from vehicles to payment terminals and shipping containers to vending machines, these devices need to be secured as well. Cloudflare is currently developing new tools, based on the Zero Trust SIM, to provide industry leading connectivity and Zero Trust security for the Internet of Things.

Cloudflare also announced the Zero Trust for Mobile Operators program today as part of its efforts to assist enterprises in securing mobile devices. The wireless carrier partner program aims to solve the most difficult security and performance challenges in mobile connectivity together. Businesses can be confident that their devices and data are secure without sacrificing performance by combining Cloudflare’s award-winning security tools with the world’s largest mobile networks.